bionic leg this week in a demonstration of strength and science. >> jack built a house? >> reporter: when zac vawter heads out for a walk with his family, his amputated leg is no big deal. >> i'm not sure they remember dad with a normal leg, so it's just the way it is. >> reporter: but what he wants to do now, with a different leg, is a very big deal. it could help in changing the lives of thousands of amputees who have lost a leg. it involves this experimental leg, that like the real thing, obeys signals from his brain. but his story starts with a 2009 motorcycle accident that cost him his leg from the knee down. vawter knew about experimental surgeries so he persuaded neurosurgeons to save nerves from the amputated leg and attach them above the knee. he reached out to dr. levi hargrove at the center for bionic medicine. he wanted a chance at this leg. >> we have electrodes or sensors, antennas o his muscles. he thinks about bending his knee or benning his ankle. we decode those signals and send a command to the center. >> reporter: the $8 million is funned by the military, anxious to fi